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Topic: Thoughts on a Rye Amber? (Read 3853 times)

I've never brewed with rye before and I'd like to start getting a feel for it. I think what I'm going to start with is a variation on my typical American Amber, but with rye instead of Munich malt and CTZ instead of Centennial, my thinking there being that a more pungent hop might complement the rye mouthfeel. I'm open to suggestions from the more rye-sperienced though.

I was gonna say that much hops would put it into IPA territory.I would suggest more rye, at least 25%. Its one of my favorite malts and my rye beers are usually the most popular ones I have on tap here. Right now I have a rye stout that's a real favorite.

It seems like most recipes are in the 15-25% range (Denny's RIPA is ~17%), and I know that a lot of commercial examples are too much for me, so I wanted to hit the low end of the range and bump it up next time if needed.

Mostly I'm wondering if other adjustments to the specialty malts and/or hops might highlight the rye.

My rye APA has 15% and after a couple weeks of conditioning it is barely noticeable in my opinion. I have never done a rye beer with less IBUs but it seems like the bitterness from the hops and rye kind of blend together to where you cannot tell which is which. I am sure this is not the experience of most....

Totally forgot to update this... I brewed the recipe more or less as written but called an audible and switched the CTZ back to Centennial. FG ended up at 1.011, which I think helped keep it from being syrupy. It was quite good, but still too much rye for my tastes. I personally would probably go with 10% next time. I really started enjoying it once the rye flavor started to mellow - i.e. the last three pints.

I am brewing a contract rye right now for a local pub. The recipe came from a local homebrewer and it is less hoppy than I expected or thought it should have been but turned out really great. You could clearly taste the rye. Got me thinking maybe a lot of rye beers are a little out of balance....

Totally forgot to update this... I brewed the recipe more or less as written but called an audible and switched the CTZ back to Centennial. FG ended up at 1.011, which I think helped keep it from being syrupy. It was quite good, but still too much rye for my tastes. I personally would probably go with 10% next time. I really started enjoying it once the rye flavor started to mellow - i.e. the last three pints.

Good call. Did you leave the Willamette out too? Not a big fan, personally.